Do Ban The Box Policies Lead to Racial Discrimination? Not Always.

• In Event: Using Experiments to Study Public Policy

Abstract

A significant amount of literature explores the advantages and disadvantages of ban the box policies. These policies make it illegal for employers to ask applicants about criminal history on the job application. Recent research demonstrates that despite good intentions, ban the box policies actually lead to more discrimination for African American males. While these studies improve our understanding of the implications of ban the box policies on employer behavior, more work is necessary to determine whether the population size, geographic location, political ideology and racial composition of the community affects the level of racial discrimination associated with these policies. We expand on previous research by employing a field experiment where we sent approximately 500 employers resumes with different names to signify applicants of a different race and gender. We did this for three different pairs of cities; one with a ban the box policy and a demographically and politically similar city without this policy. Contrary to previous research, we find that, in most contexts black male applicants do not suffer greater discrimination in cities that ban the box. Moreover, we find evidence that black women perform significantly better in some areas. In the conclusion, we discuss why our results may indicate that ban the box policies may help blacks, rather than lead to greater levels of discrimination in the right context.

Author

• Esther Matthews, American University